Hawthorne, California, 2012. In the cavernous hall of SpaceX headquarters, rows of cubicles line a corridor. Inside the cubicles, engineers tap away at keyboards and click mouse buttons, their many computer screens filled with three-dimensional depictions of rocket parts and lines of computer code. Occasionally, heads are stuck together and a quiet conversation follows. Meanwhile, out on the shop floor at the end of the cubicle farm, lasers cut metal and welding machines assemble giant slabs of aluminum-lithium alloy into propellant tanks, while workers attach wiring harnesses to spacecraft. Behold a twenty-first century marvel of engineering, the integrated rocket shop.

Suddenly, a door flies open, and the atmosphere of quiet efficiency is rudely destroyed by a wild-eyed man running down the corridor, rapping on cubicle walls and shouting "It's all wrong! We're doing it all wrong!" Worried faces appear from around the corners of the cubicles. Some hastily grab their Nerf guns. "I thought Steve Jobs was dead?" one mutters. "That's not Steve, it's Elon!" a colleague finally realises. Indeed, it is the CEO himself who by now has most of the company out standing in the hallway.

"It's all wrong!" he repeats. "I'm not on Mars!" This is fairly obvious to the onlookers. The gravity is suspiciously high, there's a serious lack of dust and rocks on the shop floor, and no on has yet died of asphyxiation. Has their CEO finally lost it? "We have to get to Mars! We need more powerful engines! And more fuel!" he cries. "Do you know how far it is to Mars! There are no Superchargers in space you know? And we need vertical landing! On legs! Oh and for Pete's sake, rearrange those engines will you? Who's ever heard of a square rocket? Well?" Before anyone has a chance to answer, he's off again, pacing down the corridor and out the door. Looks are exchanged. Then, as one, the engineers return to their desks. Before the sounds of a rapidly accelerating Tesla Model S have fully faded away, the first design changes have been made and Falcon 9 v1.1 is born.

Okay, so, we have the new, quite a bit more powerful Merlin 1D engine that is also easier to manufacture, a rearranged engine configuration, bigger fuel tanks, a fairing with the associated separation event, a completely new launch pad, perhaps some kind of landing test and the first F9 satellite launch into a polar orbit on September 14th. Place your bets .

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

Last edited by Lourens on Fri Sep 20, 2013 11:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

Elon predicts fireworks, with only a 10% chance of the first stage decelerating correctly on return to the ground, and various other possible failure modes. It really is almost a new rocket, and I think SpaceX have some bad luck still in the bank from the initial F9 launches... Also, pic of it being moved to the launch pad.

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

Some anomalies in the static fire test. Launch date to be determined...

I'll just keep the poll open as we go so keep voting .

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

Aaaaaand it's up in space, perfect launch. No word yet on the first stage though. Would be awesome if they got it back...

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

According to what Jeff Foust, Douglas Messier and others tweeted about the SpaceX telcon yesterday, they didn't get the first stage back.Apparently the 3 engine burn(s) to slow the stage for re-entry went well and the stage survived re-entry. However during the later phase, with the single engine burn, the stage was spun up by aerodynamic forces that exceeded the authority of the RCS system. This caused the fuel to be forced to the tank walls (the whole stage basically became a centrifuge) which resulted in a flameout of the engine.

Elon Musk said they where able to recover parts of the crashed stage (including some onboard video footage they want to post later this week! ) and are confident that next time (CRS3 flight, no recovery on the next two flights) they can make it all the way down.

Seems like they got really close though. If the first stage made it to the ocean surface in one piece, then the rest of the problem should be solvable. Then build another launch site in Texas, a landing pad at Cape Canaveral, and see how quick they can make that turnaround .

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

Yep, it was propellant venting from the second stage, actually. A whole lot of little droplets lit by the sun, which was just behind the horizon at ground level, but just above it at the altitude of the second stage. The second stage was supposed to have been relit, but that failed, so it had a lot of propellant left. They vent the propellants after the stage is done to keep it from exploding during re-entry.

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

Although perhaps objects that are in orbit shouldn't be considered to be flying? Then we'd have to call it an Unidentified Falling Object...

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus